| Thomas George Prince | |
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Sergeant Tommy Prince (R) with his brother, Private Morris Prince, receives his Military Medal at Buckingham Palace |
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| Nickname | Prince of the Brigade |
| Born | 15 October 1915 Scanterbury, Manitoba |
| Died | 25 November 1977 (aged 62) Winnipeg, Manitoba |
| Allegiance | Canada |
| Service/branch | Royal Canadian Engineers 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion Devil's Brigade PPCLI |
| Years of service | June 3, 1940–June 15, 1945 August 1950–September 1954 |
| Rank | Sergeant |
| Battles/wars | World War II Korean War |
| Awards | Military Medal Silver Star |
Thomas George "Tommy" Prince, MM (October 25, 1915–November 25, 1977) was one of Canada's most decorated First Nations soldiers, serving in World War II and the Korean War.
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Born in Manitoba, Canada, he was one of eleven children of Henry and Arabella Prince of the Ojibw'e Nation at the Brokenhead reservation in Scanterbury, Manitoba. He was a descendant of the Indian chief, Peguis, who had led his nation from Sault Ste. Marie to the southern end of Lake Winnipeg in the late 1790s, keeping their French name, the Saulteaux.
Growing up, Prince became a superb marksman with exceptional tracking skills learned from countless days spent hunting in the wilderness around his Indian reserve. He attended Elkhorn Residential School, completing grade eight. After leaving school, he was employed at a variety of manual labor positions but primarily as a tree feller.
At the outbreak of World War II, Prince volunteered to fight with the Canadian Army and although Prince easily met the requirements for recruitment, he was turned down several times before he was finally accepted on June 3, 1940. He was originally a member of the Royal Canadian Engineers, trained as a sapper. He volunteered for duty with a parachute unit designated the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion. This designation was used to disguise the true reason for the recruitment of parachute volunteers in the UK at that time: the United States and Canada had begun the formation of a special force to conduct sabotage in Norway. Men were recruited in Canada and the overseas army for this Force dubbed the First Special Service Force. The Canadians involved with this training continued to be on strength of their prior units. Although later dubbed the 2nd Canadian Parachute Battalion for administrative purposes, the unit did not actually exist. Prince then reported to the U.K.'s parachute school at RAF Ringway, near Manchester. He was promoted to Lance Corporal in February 1941.
In September 1942, Prince returned to Canada and joined the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion (1CPB), and was promoted to sergeant. It was determined by the CO of the Force that no more men could be absorbed from the UK due to lack of time to prepare the men for their mission. The Canadians then decided to go ahead with the actual raising of the 1CPB. Prince volunteered for this unit and proceeded to Fort Benning, Georgia where they were forming. Shortly after, the Force mission to Norway had been cancelled. By December 1942 other alternative operations for the Force were being proposed. The Canadians were well below strength due to injuries in training and washouts. The Canadians then agreed to bolster the Force by allowing men from the growing 1CPB to volunteer for the Force. Between December 1942 and the beginning of 1943 some men decided to make a move to the Force. Prince was one of these men. Not only did he parachute train in the UK method but he also received US parachute training. Although the Force was not technically a parachute unit, the CO of the Force, Colonel Robert T. Frederick, wanted his men familiar with parachute training should a parachute descent be required in future operations. Prince, and the other men of this unit were originally chosen for their rugged outdoor backgrounds and received a rigorous training schedule, often under live fire. All members of this elite squad received intense instruction in stealth tactics, hand-to-hand combat, the use of explosives for demolition, amphibious warfare, rock climbing and mountain fighting, and as ski troops. Prince became a "Reconnaissance Sergeant" or in the Force table of organization a "Scout", responsible for moving into forward positions and reporting on the movements of the enemy.
The SSF moved to Italy in November 1943. They would take part in the clearing of the Bernhard or Winter Line preventing the Allied push towards Rome. They attacked and captured Monte la Difensa, Hill 720, Monte Majo, and Monte Vischiataro in December and January. They were then moved to Anzio. On February 8, 1944, near Littoria, Italy, Prince was sent forward to report the location of several German assembly points, including artillery positions. He set up in an abandoned farmhouse about 200 metres from the enemy assembly area, well behind enemy lines, with 1,400 metres of telephone wire connecting him to the force. He had a clear view of the enemy's emplacements and promptly reported them. An artillery duel followed as the Allies attempted to knock out the guns reported by Prince, and one of these rounds cut the telephone wire. The duel died down as a result. Prince donned civilian clothing, grabbed a hoe and, in full view of German soldiers, pretended to be a farmer weeding his crops. He slowly inched his way along the line till he found where it was damaged, then, pretending to tie his shoelaces, rejoined the wires. After finishing the repairs, he made a show of shaking his fist at the nearby Germans, then again toward the Allied lines.[1] Returning to his lookout spot, he continued his reports, and over the next 24 hours four German batteries were knocked out of action.[2] In all he spent three days behind enemy lines. For this action, Prince was awarded the Military Medal, his citation reading (in part) "Sergeant Prince's courage and utter disregard for personal safety were an inspiration to his fellows and a marked credit to his unit."
After being the vanguard of the US Forces liberating Rome on 4 June 1944, the SSF was moved to southern France as part of Operation Dragoon. First they would assault the Hyères Islands before going ashore at Sylvabelle on the French Riviera. There the Force was ordered, as part of the 1st Airborne Task Force, to push eastward towards the Franco-Italian border. On September 1, Prince and a private were sent forward through the German lines to scout their positions near L'Escarène and came across an encampment area of an enemy reserve battalion. On the way back to report, Prince and the private came upon a battle between some Germans and a squad of French partisans. They started sniping the Germans, who eventually withdrew. When Prince made contact with the French leader, he asked Prince where his company was located, when Prince pointed to the private and said "Here," the French commander exclaimed that he thought there were fifty of them. The French commander recommended Prince for the Croix de Guerre, but the courier was killed en route and the message never reached the French Commander-in-Chief, Charles de Gaulle.[3]
Prince continued on to reach his unit. He then personally led the unit back to the encampment and joined in the battle, which resulted in the capture of the entire battalion, about 1000 men. From start to end, Prince had been without food, water or sleep for 72 hours and had walked over 70 km across rugged, mountainous terrain. Afterward, Prince was recommended for the American Silver Star, his citation reading:
| “ | So accurate was the report rendered by the patrol that Sergeant Prince's regiment moved forward on 5 September 1944, occupied new heights and successfully wiped out the enemy bivouac [encampment] area. The keen sense of responsibility and devotion to duty displayed by Sergeant Prince is in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of the Allied Nations. | ” |
After it was determined that both US and Canadian personnel would be better suited if they were dispersed to units in their own forces, the 1st Special Service Force was disbanded in December 1944. After returning to the UK, Prince was summoned to Buckingham Palace on February 12, 1945 where King George VI presented him with his Military Medal. He asked the CO of the 1st Canadian Special Service Battalion Lieutenant Colonel Jack Akehurst to accompany him. Once it was determined in early 1943 that the force was to be sent into action the Canadian Government had to promulgate a unit so that matters of promotions and permanent transfers to the unit could be made. This unit was promulgated in April–May 1943 as the 1st Canadian Special Service Battalion. Prince would later receive his Silver Star on behalf of the American President from US General Koening on April 24, 1945. In all, Tommy Prince was decorated nine times, the most of any aboriginal soldier in the war. The war in Europe ended while Prince was in England.
Prince was honourably discharged on June 15, 1945[4] and returned to his home on the Brokenhead reserve. He worked in a pulpwood camps and was a heavy drinker on weekends. In 1946, at a dance a woman attacked him with a broken beer bottle and badly cut his right cheek requiring 64 stitches.[3] It was a major turning point for Prince. He resolved to leave the reserve and get a job in Winnipeg.
With the assistance from the Department of Veteran's Affairs, he established his own cleaning service with a half-ton panel truck and cleaning supplies and, for a time, prospered. He married Verna Sinclair, with whom he had five children.
In 1946 he was elected chairman of the Manitoba Indian Association. Entrusting his business to friends, Prince devoted his time to working with government to improve the conditions for Native peoples. He worked with the association to lobby Ottawa for changes to the Indian Act. While some revisions were made, little actual improvement followed. Frustrated with the red tape of Ottawa, he returned to Winnipeg to discover that the cleaning business he had entrusted to friends had failed in his absence after they crashed the truck and sold it for scrap metal.[3] With no recourse, Prince returned to the lumber camps and worked at a local concrete factory in the summers.
In August 1950, Prince re-enlisted in the Canadian Army to fight with the United Nations troops in the Korean War. As he later commented, "As soon as I put on my uniform I felt a better man." Re-instated with his previous rank of Sergeant, Prince was now a member of the 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (2 PPCLI), the first Canadian regiment to arrive in the war zone.
In February 1951, the Patricias joined the 27th Commonwealth Brigade on the battlefield. Soon after arriving in the war zone, the sergeant, who was second in command of a rifle platoon, led an evening "snatch patrol" of eight men into an enemy camp. The raid was a success; the group returned before dawn with two captured machine-guns. More raids followed. However, according to the authors of a biography of Prince, he was eventually assigned fewer patrols, because his commanding officer thought Prince took too many chances that might risk the lives of the soldiers under his command.[5]
Prince was present with the 2 PPCLI when, together with the 3rd Royal Australian Regiment, it was awarded the United States Presidential Unit Citation for distinguished service in the Battle of Kapyong on April 24 and 25, 1951. The Patricias were to hold a defensive position at Hill 677 so that a South Korean division could withdraw during an attack by Chinese and North Korean forces. Although at one point the battalion was completely surrounded, resupply of ammunition and emergency rations was accomplished by air and the 2 PPCLI held its ground. Ten PPCLI men were killed and 23 were wounded during the two-day battle.[5]
Prince's wartime duty was taking a toll on his body, and his knees were subject to painful swelling and premature arthritis. After a medical examination in May 1951, he was hospitalized and then assigned administrative duties. In August he returned to Canada. Prince remained on active service as an administrative sergeant at Canadian Forces Base Borden in Ontario. Here his knees improved, so in March 1952 he volunteered for a second tour of duty in the Far East. He sailed for Korea that October with the 3rd Battalion PPCLI.
In November 1952, the training of the 3 PPCLI in Korea was interrupted by a Chinese attack on "the Hook" (better known for the later Battle of the Hook), a key position west of the Sami-chon River that overlooked much of the rear area of the U.N. forces. When a Chinese battalion gained a foothold on the forward positions of another U.N. unit on November 18, the 3rd PPCLI was ordered to help defend the sector. By dawn of the 19th, the U.N. unit, with assistance from the Patricias, had recaptured the post. Five Patricias were killed on the Hook and nine were wounded, one of whom was Prince. Prince recovered from his injury, but his knees continued to be a more serious problem, and between January and April he spent several weeks in hospital.[5] The armistice was signed during this period.
He received the Korea Medal, the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and the United Nations Service Medal. Following the Korean Armistice Agreement, he remained in the army, working as an instructor of new recruits in Winnipeg, Manitoba, until his honourable discharge on October 28, 1953.[4] He continued to work at a Winnipeg personnel depot in Winnipeg, until September 1954.[4]
Adjusting to civilian life had not been easy for Prince after World War II, and with painfully arthritic knees as a result of the long, harsh conditions during his military service, his capabilities were limited. Coupled with the discrimination seen against Native people at the time, his life became increasingly difficult, ultimately ending in his estrangement from his family.
In June 1955, Tommy Prince made the news for his heroism in saving a man from drowning at the Alexander Docks in Winnipeg. But his personal life kept deteriorating and alcoholism overtook him resulting in his final years being spent virtually alone, living in a Salvation Army hostel. In order to support himself, he sold off his medals.
Prince died at the Deer Lodge Hospital in Winnipeg in 1977 and was interred in the Brookside Cemetery.
Prince's medals changed hands several times before coming up for auction in London, Ontario. His nephew, Jim Bear, organized a pledge drive and purchased the medals, entrusting them to the Manitoba Museum in Winnipeg.
Since his passing, a number of honours have been bestowed in his name. Some of them are:
On February 10, 2010, it was announced that Canadian actor Adam Beach will portray the Canadian war hero in an upcoming movie about his life. According to Bay Film Studios, the movie will be a "true account of Canada's most highly decorated First Nations soldier." Beach, 37, said he is honoured to portray Prince, calling him a positive role model for all First Nations.[6]